Acronym
ANTIHELMOGRAM
Code
160D09124
Duration
01 January 2025 → 31 December 2027
Promotor-spokesperson
Research disciplines
-
Natural sciences
- Parasitology
-
Agricultural and food sciences
- Veterinary herd health management
- Other veterinary sciences not elsewhere classified
Keywords
ruminants
anthelmintic drug efficacy
Project description
Mirroring the principle of an “antibiogram” test, the Anthelmogram project aims to provide a unique decision tool addressing the limitations of current Anthelmintic Resistance (AR) diagnostics. Taking advantage of a newly developed high throughput automated larval motility platform, the Anthelmogram platform will phenotype up to 4000 samples per week and accurately determine the resistance/susceptibility status to 10 different anthelmintic compounds per parasite population. The Anthelmogram assay will be applied to parasitic nematodes of cattle, sheep and goats from 6 distinct countries representing key biogeographical ruminant farming regions of Europe and Anatolia where AR is a major concern. The Anthelmogram consortium gathers European leaders in the field of AR research and will fully utilise the unique set of biological material and data generated by the platform to perform unparalleled epidemiological and molecular studies on parasitic helminths. The expected outcomes include: 1) Large scale sampling and systematic automated phenotyping of worms; 2) Creation of a biobank of resistant/susceptible helminth populations for use by the research community; 3) Generation of novel data on the epidemiology of drug resistance and susceptibility in ICRAD countries; 4) Large scale genetic characterisation of phenotyped helminth populations for the discovery and functional validation of AR molecular markers; 5) Evaluation of the efficacy of “sustainable approaches” to the management of resistance using longitudinal data collected during the project; 6) Concrete policy recommendations and updated best practice guidelines for AR management in Europe. From high throughput phenotypic assays to stakeholder focused decision